California education board looking to change label standards to avoid 'discouraging' and 'demotivating' terms

Education officials in California are looking to change their labeling standards in order to avoid "discouraging" and "demotivating" terms, according to a report on the Calaifornia State Board of Education.

The new terms are meant to clarify for parents when their children are not meeting performance standards without making them feel bad, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

'The reality we are facing is many students across California are facing significant challenges when it comes to meeting grade level standards.'

Current student score labeling has four categories: Standard Exceeded; Standard Met; Standard Nearly Met, or Standard Not Met. Officials are proposing changing the categories to Advanced, Proficient, Foundational, and Inconsistent.

The board of education was prepared to approve the changes in September when advocates said they opposed the new terms because they were confusing and potentially misleading.

The Times report documented that some participants in focus groups said the current lowest terms were “often received as discouraging or demotivating."

A separate proposal would change the lower two categories to Basic and Below Basic.

Officials also say that the second proposal would make California's labeling far more in line with national labels at the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is known as the "nation's report card."

Whatever label California chooses to put on efforts to educate children, they are failing.

Only 35% of students in California tested proficient or better in fourth-grade math, while even fewer, 27%, of students in Los Angeles scored the same. Fourth-grade reading scores are even worse. Only 29% of students statewide rated proficient or better, and even fewer, 25%, of Los Angeles students graded the same.

The report noted that even though students are doing poorly, research shows that parents believe their children are grading better than their scores indicate.

A letter from education activist groups criticized the proposed Foundational and Inconsistent labels.

“The reality we are facing is many students across California are facing significant challenges when it comes to meeting grade level standards, particularly many low-income students, students of color, English learners, and students with learning differences,” the groups wrote. “The proposed changes to these achievement level descriptions would make the data more confusing and misleading.”

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